On Thursday in the East Bay, Meals on Wheels is ending some home food deliveries because the program has been starved for funding.
For 11 years, Vijay Behl has been driving food to homebound Antioch seniors. And he absolutely loves doing it.
"Helping the people who are in need of this, people who cannot walk, who cannot go out on their own, and they get the meals at home, that is the best part of this program," he said as he began his daily rounds.
Behl has about 100 clients in the Antioch area that he delivers to each week. But the program was ending on Thursday, at least for breakfast.
"There's cereal, and there's eggs in here," said Lindy Maynes-Koltoff, as she pulled out the contents of a "breakfast bag."
As a board member of Meals on Wheels, Diablo Region, she said they were the only group in the greater Bay Area to have a breakfast program, delivering five to seven days' worth of morning edibles each week.
"There are some of these seniors that are getting chemotherapy," she said. "And so breakfast is really important to them. This was actually started during the pandemic. And so, we got funding for this. And we've continued the funding up...until now."
So, on Wednesday, a melancholy Behl had to deliver his breakfasts along with an apology.
"Hello. This is our last breakfast bag delivery," he said, as he handed over the food to his client, Alfred Dahdouh. "Sorry, we are going to miss you."
It hurt because he knew that Dahdouh, housebound at age 90, is pretty much alone in the world.
"That's a curse," said Dahdouh, only half-joking. "Punishment from God. He gives you a long life. Because with a long life, you cannot walk, you cannot do this. You need help from everybody."
But there was a time he had no trouble walking. In fact, he was a world-class gymnast, competing for his home country of Egypt in two Olympic Games.
"Yes! Two times in the 50s!" he said, holding up a black and white photo of a smiling young man with a massive upper body.
Later, he became a professional body builder, meeting a brash up-and-comer named Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then, Dahdouh went on to serve in Vietnam. He has an amazing life story, but since his wife died, and he can't leave the house, there is no one left to tell it to.
Others are more lucky. A large group of seniors meet for lunch at a Meals on Wheels "cafe" at the Concord Senior Center. There, the socializing is as important as the food. But so many people are now coming that even that is scheduled to run out of money in April.
"I'm not sure whether it would close. We're going to have to find the funding from somewhere," said Meals on Wheels, Diablo Region executive director David Linnell. "But what we'll have to do is reduce the participation. We're going to have to turn people away."
Because of its own budget problems, Contra Costa County removed the $750,000 that funded the breakfast bag program, calling it a "supplemental program." But the need is still growing while resources are dwindling. Federal government cuts are passed down to the State and then to the county and then to Meals on Wheels. But ultimately, it falls on guys like Alfred Dahdouh who end up feeling like a long life is a curse rather than a blessing.